One of the vehicles became stuck in the sand. Inside, the Afghan Border Police found 4,600 pounds (2,090 kilograms) of raw opium and approximately 24 pounds (11 kilograms) of a substance believed to be heroin.

Authorities also confiscated a satellite phone and a two-way radio. Two men were arrested for possession of the drugs, the news release said.

soundoff(375 Responses)

Read about the long and sordid history of The Golden Triangle from the beginning and open your eyes to the truth behind so many generations of tragedy, wars, and death in the name of colonialism, blind patriotism and govt. special interests from other countries as well as our own. It's all out there for us to learn about if you really want the truth. You can even learn about it on The History Channel !

Frank, Those Opium fields are what fund those that wish to do us harm and you want them legalized? Let me get this straight. Legalize Opium in the USA so Americans can get wasted by handing our enemies money for their opoum. Whats wrong with that picture?

Now see, I could've used all of this siezed opium approximately four years ago when I had suffered from excruciating sciatic nerve damage, which resulted from disc herniation in my lower lumbar between L4 and S1.

Many on this site are jumping on the band wagon to blast Kyle. I do not know if Kyle is a moron or not. I do know that all of you that favor the legalization of dangerous drugs and some of the other nonsense I see on these posts ARE in fact morons. I am becoming more certain eveyday that there are a lot of stupid people in this world and in this country. Wish those of you taht fit that bill would just fade away, with a wimper as opposed to a roar. Unlike most of you I have a job and need to get back to work

Good posts. Everyone is passionate about the drug war, but very few are actually in tune to what the social effects of it are. I have had many friends die from drug use and I think nobody should ever use drugs. But, I am totally opposed to prohibition, at least insofar as it prohibits anything in it's natural form. This is why:
Every one of my friends who died from drug use, died only because drugs are illegal. Pot is not a gateway drug because use makes people want to try harder drugs. It is a gateway drug because our kids can get it in school. When they can't get it in school, the go into the local city or drug infested area to get it. This inevitably leads to some drug dealer throwing a bag of coke on the dash. Now our kids have access to hard drugs. Anybody who does not understand this should not weigh in with their opinion because it is not constructive.
Right now Heroin is back in our schools. Heroin prices have dropped and the drug has made a come back since the Afghan war. Can anybody explain this fact without some government complicity? Can anybody explain why a drug war more bloody than the Iraq war is going on at our border and it is kept off of the news?
Does anybody with a college education out there actually believe that drugs are illegal because it is consistent with our morality? In a nation where we give our kids dangerous addictive prescription drugs, where we can buy alcohol on almost any corner, and where we let the cartels run drugs across our southern border freely? C'mon people, show some common sense. I've never met anybody of any sense that advocated drug use or denied the drug war is a disaster.
If we decriminalize drugs in their natural form (marijuana, cocoa leaves for smoking/chewing, opium), as bad as those drugs may be, a couple of things will happen. 1) the drug war will promptly end along with associated violence 2) impure or processed forms of the drugs that kill our children will be nearly impossible to come by and 3) use of hard drugs will go down significantly.
This will never happen because our government is protection the giant industry of drug trafficking. If you don't believe that, then you are probably short on the facts.

Frank, There can be many reasons other than guarding the poppy fields that the soldiers where in those shots, Just having Geraldo in the area would explain soldiers presence.

"Might it be the same one that Geraldo from Fox was standing in front of while talking to the farmers of opium. You remember the picture, the one with OUR soldiers guarding their poppy fields in the background."

I served in Afghanistan and frequently had to have my soldiers dismounted around pot fields to complete our mission. These missions had nothing to do with the Marijanua, but a picture might make it look like we were guarding it if taken out of context.

Your arguments might be taken more seriously if tried to apply a little more intellectual honesty.

i can make alot of money with that 2 tons. maybe finance a few wars somewhere and sell arms to both sides. with the money from the drugs, weapons, and the interest from the loans, i can further the efforts of the new world order. time to bring in our new leader, the antichrist.

People get fired from jobs for smoking weed when they get caught in the urinalysis, not because of an inability to function at work. What people do outside of their job should be THEIR business, not the employers'.

what are we, slaves? Property intended to maximize the owners' income? Sure you can change jobs, and effectively move from one plantation to another. Try leaving the US and see how you will continue to pay US income taxes for 10 years, AFTER you renounce your citizenship and all benefits thereof.

Maybe free-range serf is a better way to put it.

Kyle is just a shill who keeps repeating the distllations of the propaganda he's absorbed throughout his life.

MORE OPIUM FOR U.S. PAINKILLERS! WHOO WHOO. yeah, that's right. all those painkillers mommy and daddy pop and throw down their kids throats: opium by-products, son. if you think the US doesn't have their hands in the opium trade, your delusional. Been giving morphine(heroin) out like candy since the turn of the last century. Quite a useful and addictive plant.

Solution: unless you have equal firepower and manpower, the system in place now, is the system in which we will all die. miserably. but hey, at least pot will still be illegal along with the rest of the soft drugs, and opium will be readily available at your local pharmacy.

And what might this supposed benefit be? It is said to be to deny a stable base of operations for aAl qaeda as well as to help keep Pakistan from falling to radical Islam. Is this worth the fight? We have a known (cost of the war) vs. the unknowns. This is, as Rumsfeld put it, a "known unknown."

#343, the terrorists are getting their money from Saudi Arabia and other helpful countries. The opium money is used to keep the country barely afloat. They have nothing else to offer the world but dirt. Legalizing drugs in the US would not significantly alter the opium income of Afghanistan. We (the US military) could eradicate opium poppy farms but have not be tasked with that. It would destabiize the economy and goverment of Afghanistant and thwart the US plans which are designed benefit the US and nobody else.

How do you think terrorist are getting their money? Opium!!!!! So by making drugs legal in the states you are supporting terrorist. If the army stopped the growing of poppy at the beginning of the Afghan war it would have been over!!!!

Is it really necessary for all the posters on these comments/discussion boards to curse each other? As soon as a question is put forth and a few people comment here comes someone calling someone else an idiot, a fool or telling them to go F themselves. You are not changing anyone's mind with all the name calling. So lets try to be a little bit more civil. There's nothing wrong with people disagreeing with each other but lets try to be civil about it. That will make these discussion boards a lot more pleasant place and interesting experience.

I disagree Joebloe. Our penalties are so harsh that if a college kid gets caught he/she loses their college grants, job offers etc. Are you advocating a Chinese policy/ death penalty for drug use, because then all alcoholic, coffee drinkers & tobacco users should also be shot. Drugs are drugs PERIOD. How do you discern, by the harm caused? If so, then alcohol (according to the lancet) causes more societal harm and tobacco more medical harm than all illegal drugs.

I used to intern as a med counselor in college and medically alcohol & benzodiazepine withdrawal can kill you if not dealt with intensely. With a heroin withdrawal patient, you can give him an aspirin and watch the patient and he will be ok, With alcohol or benzodiazepine withdrawal if you do not have constant monitoring the patient can die. (delirium tremens, kosckoff syndrome etc) Those are both legal meds.

In regards to your teen problem you are also mistaken. Ask any teenager what is easier to obtain, alcohol or drugs and they will say drugs. Why, because they are not regulated.

Funny how people say they don't advocate kids from doing drugs. If all illegal drugs become legalized, things will still get out of hand. The government is still going to have to place regulations. Just like Alcohol!

You would have to be living under a rock to believe that no one under the age of 21 is drinking alcohol. People as young as middle schoolers are being exposed. Entering college, the surveys they provide signify that 85% drink alcohol (at my College in the papers). Alcohol is Taxed, but it does not curtail all destructive behavior. At the very least, it does limit destructive behavior.

Or look at Music sales. People can pay for it, but there is a "black market" to download music for free. If we let go of the regulations in music industries, there would be no incentive in becoming a rock star unless you just want the attention. Granted, such enforcement those cost a lot of money, but not enforcing will cause major problems.

How would you regulate drugs? just tax it? haha that is naive, you still need enforcement to check quality, enforcement to collect tax, etc. EVEN IF USA were to deregulate, the world at large still considers current 'illegal' drugs to be illegal. There will always be a black Market.

Addiction is the best customer loyalty, people will come back for any price. USA is losing the drug war because our laws are not harsh enough. In addition, our jails are mere play pens. If it were changed to capitol punishment not limited to Adults and fully enforced (death by firing squad) would you touch it or attempt to become addicted?

That's why killing people for a living is rare. Why? because the consequences are very high. But there is a market...

Chris, I thank you for the sincere heartfelt approach to our nasty, civil liberty threatening war on "some" drugs. I wish you luck in your sobriety.

I just wish people would realize the next time they use the word druggies or stoner they should also see the hard working person who comes home from work and drinks some wine or smokes a cigar. Albeit not the healthiest of choices, but in a free society you can never, ever control what a person chooses to do with his/her own body.

Only one problem I see with regulation/decriminalization. What is going to happen with all the tax dollars saved and what is going to happen with all those agencies that make money off prohibition?

After all, Parents for a Drug Free America obtain the majority of their tax deductible contributions from big pharma, anheiswer-busch and big tobacco. Hypocrisy?

"We do need to help them grow something more usefull like crops that can feed their people. Most of the Afghans involved in the growing of these crops do it under pressure of drug lords."

That's been covered in several articles. Impoverished farmers have no way of getting crops to market. The Taliban picks up the opium/takes it away. - Another problem: strawberries/vegetables yield only a fragment of what opium brings.

1) Historically, prohibition has not been a successful approach to solving drug and addiction problems. My own struggle with drug addiction began after being described strong painkillers with no management plan and no real discussion of how serious the potential for addiction is, not after smoking weed and drinking in high school and college.

2) Once I had become addicted, no law or enforcement or cheezy just-say-no commercial was going to come between me and what I wanted. Not even the high probability of ending up dead, in prison, or in institutions

3) the revenue from legalization, taxation, and regulation, could not only help with our current outrageous budget deficit, but help fund healthcare initiatives, especially those aimed at helping addicts (treatment does work, coming from experience, maybe not the first time, but it does work, and is currently unaffordable for the majority of Americans who suffer from addiction problems).

4) Also with legalization comes economic benefits, not just for the user, but for the entire world. Prohibition leads to black markets for items, which distorts price levels, making poor farmers in places like Afghanistan and Columbia choose to grow poppy and coca plants instead of food that could help increase their ability to feed themselves and their nations.

5) Obviously, by supporting legalization, I don't deny that some law conscious Americans would choose to light up a joint instead of a cigarette or cracking a beer, but I don't believe that that same person would choose to go shoot heroin or blow a line of coke in the same situation. The people that are going to use hard drugs will, regardless of any prohibitive measures enacted by congress or local law enforcement agencies. If you don't support drugs, you don't have to do them, but you can share in the savings that come from all across the board. Consider that almost 20% of inmates in federal prisons (not including state and local jails) are nonviolent drug offenders with no previous criminal convictions, and then begin to imagine how many tax dollars are wasted on prosecuting, incarcerating, feeding, and health care for these inmates.

I could go on and on and on, I just wish people would do some research, look at how some other modern countries are approaching the issue, and not just instantly shut out the issue as a stoner-only agenda looking for a "legal fix", because I don't think anyone getting their fix today is really worried about the legality. sorry for the rant

@ KYLE YOU ARE EITHER A LITTLE KID OR AN IDIOT OR A LITTLE IDIOT. YOU HAVE ABSOLUTLY NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT AND YOUR VIEW OF THE WORLD AND THE POLITICAL TIES INVOLVED ARE SO UNDER DEVELOPED THAT IT IS IRRITATING TO CONTINUE READING YOUR COMMENTS SO PLEASE STOP MAKING THEM. P.S I WONT BE READING THIS AGAIN SO DONT BOTHER WRITING SOME CHILDISH INSAULT THAT HOLDS NO VALIDITY.

The American Revolution made this country a drug culture. We funded our rebellious break from England on the sale of tobacco. Europeans could not get enough of it!

Also, ponder this:

Human beings have a natural compulsion to alter their consciousness. Watch toddlers spin around until they get dizzy. Whether its done naturally (via meditation) or by using drugs, people will always seek a way to alter their reality.

LOL! I read a few comments about how the CIA isnt in the drug trade....um...are you people stupid? of course they are

25 years ago I was buying these beatiful bricks of black hash in LA for about $50 an ounce that were oval, and had gold leaf stamped on them....the picture was two crossed M-16's with the words "Smoke Russia Out of Afganistan".....in english....

I had one more thought: Kyle has to be a joker, nobody is that stupid, My guess is that everyone responding to him looks like a carp with a hook in its mouth to him. (I once knew a guy that would come up with similar things on almost any subject, like: why would I want to go to the beach, all there is there is sand and water and both are in my basement) Kyle is the same type of guy, and if I am wrong, then he is the guy that got his lunch money taken away in school, and is getting his revenge.

I have been reading these types of opinions for years now, and the only thing that changes is some peoples story about legalization, and that is based on popular opinion. For example: when I was in high school I am absolutely certain that about 70% of the senior class smoked pot. When they were polled without having to put down their names the polls said roughly 78% (This was 1973) Fast forward to today, the same people I saw with joints in their mouths claim they never tried it, and we have a 30% number.

Legalizing will remove many financial problems, since alot of the arrests are the same people over and over (thats because once in the system you are an easy target) I do not believe that anyone anywhere is thinking: I can become a junkie as soon as heroin is legal! Nobody suddenly became an alcoholic when prohibition was ended, and the story would be the same if drugs are de criminalized.

Lastly, the people with the dumb cliche' statements like: "well you wouldn't want your airline piliot smoking pot before flying", or: "why do we need another drug in society,"should stop since this type of thinking is from the brainwashing given out in the 60's and 70"s (no I don't want my pilot taking anything, and there are no new drugs, most have been available for over 100 years)
How about focusing law enforcement on robberies, killers, child molesters, etc. and let people do what ever they want in their homes without fear of the door crashing in and Nazi storm troopers coming in,.

I thought Afghanistan was an oil war primarily so Bush could get his pipeline from the Caspian Sea area to the Indian Ocean without the dreaded Turks having the ability to cut of the supply once said supply was going through The Black Sea and Turkey. So what the hey, an oil war and a drug war, what a score for the New World Order/Bilderbergers.

@Kyle – I am not going to stoop to name calling, insults to your manhood or intelligence. What I am going to attempt to do is show you how terribly wrong you are.

My story, I have cancer and I am dying from it. I fought the good fight for 13 years and let me tell you it has in no way been easy. To top it all off, my wife also suffers from Leukemia. I don't have to tell you how serious that one is. Everyone knows 97% of those with it, die from it.

Now given my background, would you seriously even want to call me or my wife a stoner just because we live with pain day in and day out and would like some relief from it?? Relief without having to spend every last dollar we have on perscriptions that cost 1000% more than they should just because someone needs to make a profit??

Go on, tell me how I asked for this. Go on and say how much I deserve to die in pain because its for the greater good.. I Dare you to try and reason that one out.

I can only say thank god I live in california where MMJ patients like myself and my wife can grow our own medicine without fear of reprisal. I can also honestly say, thank god you have never had to walk a day in my shoes. I wouldn't wish this on anyone nor would I want to keep from anyone a source of relief, however short lived it may be.

Wow are we really going to be little bit*** about all of this? The fact of the matter is that there actually is a druug war and even the 'druggies" themselves will tell you there is. So technically anyone who said there isn't is either one stupid piece of s*** or just flat out a BS liar! Further more, the drugs are terrorizing the American people as well as the country as a whole. It affects us individually as well as our families and our friends. It needs to be stopped! How dare you disrespect the soldiers guarding those poppy fields! If you don't like the way the government runs s*** you can get the f*** out of our country! There is no reason for all f you "know it all b*****" to keep running your mouths because what i just spoke is the truth weather you like it or not!

o and you said you want one non-stoner whov disagrees. omg theres like a million just ask people ane see how many dont care. im just here because english class sucks and its almost a joke how easy they make this. kyle argues like hes 8 years old . ooo i dont have a bedtime im a grown mannnnn. lol no not if your doing this.

you all are nuts. espically kyle, who i think is a bible humper. hasent anyone noticed that plenty of smart sucessful people smoke pot of used to smoke pot. you just grow out of it as you mature but not everyone does. i smoke pot occasionally and i have all A's (highschool). why do you even care what other people do with their lives, its not yours and it doesent affect you. besides everybody knows pots not addictive n if you are than your stupid, and its just a gateway drug. why dont you make an issue about something a little more harmful to people and addictive ya know, the real drugs that cause the demise of so many people, not pot. my flippin grandparents smoke lmfao and i think thats funny as hell. as well as sucessful adults who smoke weed and some manage to overcome their super cerial addiction and fine ways to do their jobs aside from getting that drop to your knees fix of 1 hit of the bowl. lol even though it wont do anything. by the way i think kyle does this often, he like one of those kids on xbox live that annoys the piss out of you and yells at you through the game. lol like wtf are u retarded of something? argueing online is like the special olympics. even if you win, your still retarded. espically if you threatin people.

Let's see. Kyle, I hope you're still following the brewhah you started, did you know GW Bush, Clinton and Obama have all smoked pot to some extent. While it is a crime (and that is a shame) it is not immoral. Immorality is defined (or should be) as a priest taking advantage of a small child or hiding the fact that another does. Now that is a real crime!

It's ironic to hear that 2 tons is a large score of heroin. During WWII, the US stored at least 30 tons of Afghan opium in its Treasury vaults. Back then, during WWII (and for national security reasons) the U.S. was Afghanistan biggest purchaser of opium. Few Americans understand that Afghanistan was the biggest supporter of curtailing international opium sales. In fact, the U.S. supported the Afghans in their quest to be recognized as legal international opium producer. Then, after the CIA-coup in Iran, the U.S. pulled the rug out under from Kabul. Unfortunately, Afghan's opium situation was relatively under control. Instead, for the next few decades, crop substitution programs were pushed by the US and UN. Also, the US spent millions in upgrading their irrigation systems and paving new roads. The end result: Afghanistan improved its ability to grow opium. And don't even get me started on the CIA blocking the DEA from investigating drug traffickers in the 1980s and post 9/11.

Ah man! what am I going to do about my fix now. I'm going to have to go for that shitty mexican beaner black tar instead of that clean burning asian white powder, wow. sounds like someone didn't get the correct amount of bacsheesh. that'll teach'm to fuck with the system of corruption.

Kyle,
I dont do drugs, never did, and I dont know why anybody in their right mind would want to use drugs, but they do. Although I cant say that I agree with ALL of your arguements (nor your violent and abusive tactics) I can say that as far as prohibition being lifted in the US goes, we agree, it SHOULD NOT happen. You see Kyle, I dont need to use drugs in order to deal drugs, and prohibition keeps my profit margins sky high!! Thanks for your support Kyle, glad to see were on the same side!
Cheers,
your neighbor
Dirty Dean

This is the first time I have read an article on CNN, where the "Comments" have been so stupid, childish and ignorant. Instead of calling eachother names, and the defamation of eachother's character(s), why not add something constructive to the discussion.

Those of you saying that soldiers and Marines are guarding fields of poppy are misinformed. We do not protect fields that will end up as illegal drugs and funding the Taliban. Once harvested, the money goes straight to Taliban hands. Making it legal will only encourage the farmers to grow more of it, therefore giving the Taliban more money. Those soldiers and Marines are not guarding these fields, they are posting security so marines like myself, a civil affairs marine, can talk to the locals farming it and attempt to fix the situation. I can garuntee you the last thing the US will do is post round the clock security to guard poppy fields. There are much more important things to do, such as gaining the support of the people. Poppy eradication is such a small piece of the counter-insurgency. And to whoever said there was no poppy cultivation when the Taliban was in power is mistaken. These farmers did not just up and decide to grow it one day. The vast majority are forced into growing it and taxed to the point where they barely have enough money to feed themselves much less their families. Its mind boggling to go on patrol and hear the things these people tell me. Most poppy farmers I talk to tell me they would gladly switch to a different crop, provided it makes them enough to feed and house their families and they have the economic means to switch.

So what you're saying, Andrew, is that we should continue to let them sell drugs because there are "deadlier" things they could be doing? Well, I don't know about you, but I was able to put two and two together, and realized that fighting drugs – i.e. the current offensive in the drug war in Mexico – has lead to a far higher rate of violence than anything we've seen so far in our so called "War on Drugs." If they straight up murder people for money (and they do), they'd kill less people AND get less money. If they kidnap people for money (and they do), they'd kill less people And get less money. See where I'm going with this?

Addiction is the issue. The current war on drugs is not working. Look at the 100 people a month being killed in drug wars in Juarez this year. Up from 40 per month last year. Legalization gives a measure on control, a start in facing addiction. We all know the government is totally capable of buying drugs to get this going. The country needs the revenue.

Overcoming addiction is a very personal choice. We have to start focusing on the addicts and on those not yet addicted.

anyone who responded to kyle...think about how he got under your skin. You allowed it. Why did you all carry on for sooooooo long? you are no different from KYLE- angry with and edge, and have to be right. Go hug your dog. you all look silly if you responded to him more than once. peace to you.

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